Deutsche Telekom (DT) has completed its first video call using the standalone (SA) version of 5G technology in Germany with very low latency — 13 milliseconds.
The German operator set up its first 5G SA network in the town of Garching, near Munich, and started conducting tests in February. In a successful feat, the video call recently made to nearby Bamberg and then Bonn happened without any interruption in a pure 5G environment.
Claudia Nemat, Board Member Technology and Innovation at Telekom said: “our goal is to continue to actively shape the future of mobile communications. 5G standalone is important to be able to use technologies such as network slicing or edge computing.”
With standalone 5G, the core network will be fully upgraded to a new, cloud-based infrastructure. This further development of 5G technology is the prerequisite for new application possibilities in the future, alongside mass deployment.
In retrospect, DT, together with other major European operators Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone, has committed to the implementation and deployment of Open RAN solutions. Open RAN would enable building more agile and flexible mobile networks in the 5G era.
Moreover, the telco previously noted that there are currently no terminals for customers that support 5G SA. Thus, the first tests are done by the team with special development software on commercially-available devices. They intend to test various connections and applications that function completely standalone — without the support of 4G — in the coming weeks.
